Pastor says Lizzi Marriott will be remembered smiling

Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott's violent death should not define her life, the Rev. John Taylor, pastor of the First United Methodist Church, told his congregation today.

The people in the pews included Robert E. Marriott, Lizzi’s father, who was sitting at the back of the church. He had met Rev. Taylor one day earlier, when the pastor prayed with Ms. Marriott’s family and friends after they learned 19-year-old Ms. Marriott had been murdered. The group Saturday had been planning to drive to New Hampshire to search for Ms. Marriott, a University of New Hampshire student who had been missing since Tuesday evening.

New Hampshire authorities have charged Seth Mazzaglia, 29, of Dover, N.H., with second-degree murder in connection with her death. Greg Rota, who has acted as a Marriott family spokesman, said today that Ms. Marriott was friends with Mr. Mazzaglia’s girlfriend.

Rev. Taylor said today, “This evil act will not define Lizzi. We will remember her smiling and laughing.”

She is in heaven and will see her parents and brother again, he said. For the moment, he urged the congregation to pray for Mr. Marriott. “Get him through the day. Bear him up,” Rev. Taylor said.

As two people hugged the grieving father, the rest of the congregation turned, and with arms raised toward him, prayed for him and his family.

“Ms. Marriott is going to be a factor for our community forever,” the pastor said.

The search for Ms. Marriott’s body continues, according to James Vara, a New Hampshire assistant attorney general with the homicide unit. He asked anyone with information about the crime to call the Chester, N.H., Police Department at (603) 742-4646.

Authorities were searching in the area of Peirce Island in Portsmouth earlier in the weekend but were not there today. According to the Associated Press, the ground and water search on and around the island was put on hold yesterday, and officials plan to discuss the next step in the search today.

Ms. Marriott and Mr. Mazzaglia, a martial arts instructor, met while working at Target in Greenland, N.H., over the summer, but officials have not said what their relationship was. Mr. Mazzaglia is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow at 10:45 a.m. in Dover District Court.

Ms. Marriott had been living with an aunt in Chester, N.H., and commuting to UNH in Durham. She was studying marine biology and was in her first semester there after previously studying at a community college. She graduated from Westboro High School in 2011.

Some of the Westboro people who knew her are members of First United Methodist, and they had asked Rev. Taylor to pray with the group Saturday. He also spoke at a vigil in her memory Saturday night.

Yesterday, after sending the children in the pews to Sunday school, Rev. Taylor told the adults Ms. Marriott had lived her life to the fullest. She had family and friends who loved her, and one of the last text messages she received was from a friend telling her she was “amazing,” he said.

“That evil that befell her could not deny her soul for shining forever so bright,” he said. “I know when Lizzi died, God’s light was present. She knew she was loved, she wasn’t alone.”

Mr. Marriott had told the pastor he wanted to be with people today. His wife, Melissa, and son, a local high school student, did not attend the church service. The family had not been a part of the church, but the congregation was moved by their loss and was planning ways to help.

University of New Hampshire President Mark W. Huddleston issued a statement Saturday saying, “We were greatly saddened to learn of Lizzi’s death, and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends.” The university was also “shocked” to learn Mr. Mazzaglia, who received a bachelor’s degree in theater from UNH in 2006, had been charged with her murder, the school said in a news release.